English Literature: A Christmas Carol Scrooge Quotes

repetition of “sole”

highlighting Marley and Scrooge’s loneliness due to their coldness

“hard and sharp as flint”

“hard” lacks softness and warmth. “sharp” causes pain and has no mercy. but “flint” has the potential to create warmth and light

“solitary as an oyster”

oysters have hard outside but a beautiful inside. solitary highlights his loneliness

“solitary child neglected by his friends”

said by ghost of xmas past. “solitary” links to previous description showing that he’s always been like this. also creating sympathy for scrooge

“to-night, if you have aught to teach me, let me profit by it”

still mentioning profit showing he has a way to go still but now in context of knowledge showing his development

“tell me if Tiny Tim will live”

to ghost of xmas present showing his character defrosting

“ i will not shut out the lessons that they teach”

scrooge talking about ghosts of xmas past, present and future. showing that he has learnt his lesson and wants to remember it

“i am as merry as a schoolboy”

contrast to him at the start and him when he was in school when he wasn’t merry showing his complete transformation

“decrease the surplus population”

link to Thomas Malthus. Highlights his incorrect, cold and harsh views on the poor

“I can’t afford to make idle people merry”

lack of empathy. shown later that the poor aren’t idle

“the water plug being left in solitude, its overflowing suddenly congealed, and turned into misanthropic ice”

solitude linking to solitary as an oyster showing that its scrooge’s solitude that caused him to become misanthropic